This is not a thread about Softride’s beam delamination issues. I am 135lbs at my heaviest, so that will never be a problem for me. I am considering building the entire beam out of carbon instead of that nasty wide aluminum housing/epoxy mess that they constructed, but I am happy with the machine for the time being.
This is a size Medium 650c frame. The head tube is a gargantuan 45mm wide and 15.5cm tall. There may not be a less aerodynamic head tube available on any TT bike.
Problem #1 on the Rocket is the cable routing. I fixed that by drilling out the frame and running full length cables through the inside, entering behind the stem. This has been posted before.
Problem #2 on this bike (mine specifically, not the design) - I love the Syntace Stratos CX basebar, but it doesn’t allow very much width adjustment and many aerobar options are simply not possible. I like the Profile Sonic CSX bars, but the large size is about 2 cm too short for me. I recently decided to try the Profile Sonic Stryke model, as it uses the same pad/extension concept as the CSX, but with ski bend ends. I dig them quite a bit.
I am still working out the width extension plates to make them fit on the Syntace base bars. As you can see, there are some 1/16" steel plates being used in the picture that allow the bars to be set wide enough to grip my hands on the extensions without touching (but within 1/4" so I can close the gap if I choose). I have a large chunk of 1/8" CF that will be replacing the steel, as they do have a tendency to bend just a little currently. I am also going to glue in thread inserts to remove the exposed nuts you see in the picture. They are the major oversight in frontal area of this design.
Problem #3 and 4 - Cable routing on the Sonic bars stinks and is not easy to hide. The easily could have moved the exit point in the molding process, but it’s not a quick fix with some of the internal structure that they built in. I suspect there is some structural foam in certain places, as the cables cannot go much past their standard exit hole. Additionally, these extensions sit too high above the base bars in the center to accomodate the Jetstream bottle. A Profile bottle works, but doesn’t attache well. To fix both of these (and the head tube shape issue), I decided to build a custom front aero bottle. It holds a 1.8L Platypus hydration bladder. I can put about 50oz in the bag safely.
The front and rear brakes are both Zipp from a 2001. The rear has its original fairing cover, while the front has been cut down quite a bit to remove the extra bulk and is now very minimalistic. I have placed the cable stop on top of the stem, with the exposed cable traveling down the head tube to the original cable hanger which is a 1cm square with inset 2.5mm set screw. I haven’t worked out the top cover of the “bottle” as yet. I have a piece of carbon cut out with a bladder hose hole, but I am not sure it’s exactly what I want. I’ll post the final pictures when I figure out exactly how I want to do that. I am also considering some additional width in the carbon area around the front brake to help with airflow over some sharp areas.
